The use of travel pillows is common practice for passengers in cars, planes, buses and trains. There are four main types of travel pillow, currently on the market: memory foam pillows, polystyrene bead filled pillows, air filled pillows and feather or stuffing filled pillows.
These pillows come in various forms, but generally fall into one of three categories: C-shaped, O-shaped, or L shaped.
The pillows currently on the market are generally aesthetically unpleasant and have further drawbacks. For example, the U-shaped pillows generally do not support a user's head at the front below the chin, or at the sides, which causes the chin to fall forward and the neck to lie at an awkward angle, the O-shaped pillows do not cater for a wide enough range of different neck sizes the air filled pillows can be difficult to inflate and to plug shut and the stuffed pillows are so poor they don't even provide any support. The bead-filled pillows are better, as they can be quite firm, but also lack support in the upright position at the front of the neck. Furthermore, the conventional neck pillows can move in use, particularly away from the desired area of contact with the user, to be less supportive.